Thursday, 15 January 2015

IN SEARCH OF HISTORY – PART -1. KUNNATHUR, ERODE IN KONGU NADU.

15, January.2015.

My Tiny Village
Pappavalasu is about 4 KM from Kunnathur in Erode district. Whenever I used to
cross Kunnathur to Gopichttipalayam or Coimbatore thought of visiting the
Kunnathur Shiva Temple. Some how it could not happened. But during my recent
Visit to my native Place Visited this temple. I had done my school education in
NRKN ( NR Karuppana Nadar Kalvi Nilayam ) High school and then I did my
Engineering Diploma at Government Polytechnic, Coimbatore. During my school
days I was not an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva.

Arunachala
Pasupathi Dharshan, Irattai Pillayar and Sri Bootha Narayan Temple is on
the way to East Rajagopuram, which is the end point of our
Girivalam. Bootha Narayan Perumal and Irattai Pillayar temples are very
near.

The present Shiva temple is a
reconstructed one, without any remembrance of the past glory and
structure. There was no epigraph, which might have been destroyed during
renovation. I still remember, about the reconstruction of this temple
during my school days through one of my relative. But after reconstruction the
old beauty has gone.

HISTORY OF KUNNATHUR.

The present Shiva temple is a
reconstructed one, without any remembrance of the past glory and
structure. There was no epigraph, which might have been destroyed during
renovation. I still remember, about the reconstruction of this temple
during my school days through one of my relative. But after reconstruction the
old beauty has gone.

The old name of this Kunnathur was
“Kundrathur”, in Kongu Nadu. Kongu nadu was called after name nectar. Kongu
nadu was divided in to four parts via North Kongu Nadu, South Kongu Nadu, Mel
Kongu Nadu and Keel Kongu Nadu. The present Erode district lies in South
and North Kongu Nadu. This was divided in to 24 sub sections called as Nadus
once again. Kunnathur is in one of the Sub sect Nadu called “Kuruppu
Nadu”, which comes under Perundurai. It was believed that large number of
Kurumpu section (குறும்பஇனமக்கள் ) people lived in this area. The name Kurumpu latter
turned to Kuruppu. ( I used to wonder why this Name “Kuruppu Nadu” is mentioned
in the marriage betrothal ceremonies ( Nadu Vilambuthal - நாடுவிளம்புதல் ).
Now I under stood how I belongs to “Kupruppa Nadu” – we belongs to
“Kuruppa nadu Kammalars” ).

After reading the book about Kongu
Nadu published by the ASI ( Archaeological Survey Of India
), I feel very proud of being born in a historical place which
had links to Hindu and Jain religion and ruled by Chera,Chozha, Pandya,
Hoysala, Vijaya Nagara Kings and Mysore Udayars, ( The
Vijayamangalam was once a capital to Kogu Nadu, is very near to my Native
Place. The Vijaya mangalam still has a jain temple which I have to explore yet
).

I
had made up my mind that I will cover one or two places of History during my
future visits to my native place. Hence I mentioned this post as PART-1.

KUNNATHUR SHIVA TEMPLE.

As per ASI this temple
was built during 14th century with Hoysala’s architecture.
But this was completely changed to the present structure ignoring the past.
There is no trace of the old structure now. It is a shame of the history.

Iraivan : Sri Kundrapureeswarar

Iraivi:

Some of the important features of this temple are..

The
temple is facing west. There is no Rajagopram instead there is an arch.

There
are Sannadhis for Vinayagar, Navagrahas, Chandran, Suryan.

There
is a Vilakku Thoon or Garuda thoon in front of the temple.

The
temple is under renovation for Kumbhabhishekam.

HOW
TO REACH :

Kunnathur
is on the state high way between Gopichettipalayam to Thirupur and Erode,
Perundurai to Coimbatore.

3 comments:

I visited both these Siva and Vishnu temples while I was travelling from Coimbatore to Salem. When the present 4 lane was under construction, we used to take Avinashi, Perumanallur, Kunnathur, Perundhurai route only. During then I visited this West Facing Siva Temple. In 1990s, one SULLIKARADU was also famous in this region. But now many are not aware of it. I do not know why.RegardsR Sukumar

Nice post. Considered as the sixth largest city in Tamil Nadu, Erode is proudly called the Loom city of India for its handloom and powerloom textile products. A number of hotels in Erode solves the problem of tourists searching for accommodation here.